Hygiene During Orthodontic Treatment

Oral hygiene is already important when it comes to a healthy mouth, but it’s even more important when the mouth is going through orthodontic treatment. There are more nooks and crannies when brackets are placed on the teeth, wherein food is easily trapped and turned into plaque. Your experienced dentists at Kidz Connextion Dental & Braces in Pheonix, AZ, take pride in educating patients with braces about the importance of an at-home oral hygiene regimen.

Patients with braces are at an increased risk for early stages of tooth decay and gingivitis if proper oral hygiene isn’t used. Your trusted dentist recommends brushing your teeth with a soft toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, as well as flossing, two to three times a day. You should be brushing in and around each bracket and wire, brushing in a circular motion where the gums and teeth meet, and brushing in a back and forth motion on the tops of molars.

Other things to consider during orthodontic treatment:

- Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Sugary foods and drinks erode enamel and make the teeth more susceptible to tooth decay, especially if you aren’t brushing properly or regularly.

- Certain foods can loosen, break, or bend wires. To limit stress on your braces, avoid eating hard or sticky foods.

Do you have a question or concern? We are happy to help! Kidz Connextion Dental & Braces has three separate offices in the Phoenix, AZ, area for your convenience. For more information about our services or to schedule an appointment, please visit kidzconnextion.com. You can also call 623-232-0749 for our N. 75th St. office, 480-666-5984 for the N. 24th St. office, and 480-405-4714 for the E. Baseline Rd. office.

Removing Braces

Now that Kidz Connextion in Phoenix offers orthodontic services, we thought our patients would enjoy learning more about what they have to look forward to after finishing major steps of their treatment. Removing braces is generally an easy process, but patients should still feel prepared for it.

We heavily emphasize to patients the importance of protecting their orthodontic brackets. They can be knocked loose by contact sports or misshapen by sticky foods such as toffee. Because of this, you may not be surprised to learn that the dental cement used to attach brackets to enamel is designed to be removable. Following the removal of elastics and wires, the dentist will compress the bracket with a plier. The deformity in the bracket will cause the dental cement to snap away from it, allowing the bracket to be lifted out.

We’ll use flat-tipped pliers to leverage out the metal bands surrounding the molars. Both methods of removing brackets are meant to prevent us from needing to pull on a patient’s enamel, although they will still feel pressure as we remove the molar brackets. Once all the metal is removed, we’ll scrape away the remaining cement. An impression of the patient’s mouth can then be taken and used to shape a retainer. The patient should be able to eat normally again by the end of the day.

Kidz Connextion Dental and Braces maintains offices around Phoenix. To find out more, visit our website at Kidz Connextion.

Caring For Your Retainer

Many orthodontic patients require a retainer at the end of orthodontic treatment.  Removable retainers are an easy step to take to preserve a straight smile. Kidz Connextion provides retainers for patients, and caring for your retainer properly is important so that it functions and lasts as long as possible.  A silly but common mistake people make with their retainers is trying to cut corners -- don’t try to clean or brush your retainer while it’s still in your mouth!  You can’t quickly scrub your retainer while brushing your teeth -- the retainer cannot be completely cleaned of debris this way, and toothpaste can also be abrasive to the plastic of the retainer.  Always remove your retainer before cleaning thoroughly with water and your toothbrush, and use a mild dish or hand soap to help clean off debris, never abrasive toothpaste.

You should clean your retainer daily, and also treat it weekly by soaking.  Soaking helps maintain the cleanliness of the retainer and keep it from drying out.  To soak the retainer, dissolve denture cleaning tablets in water or add a little baking soda to water to make a solution.  Storing your retainer properly is also important for its longevity.  Get in the habit of always using and carrying a case.  Too retainers have disappeared after being folded up in napkins!

Kidz Connextion Dental Care maintains offices around Phoenix.  To find out more, visit our website at Kidzconnextion.com.

Water Flossing with Orthodontics

A little floss goes a long way when it comes to oral health.  Flossing is an important step to remove food particles that have been left behind after brushing. Flossing can significantly reduce periodontal disease and cavity-causing causing bacteria that leads to tooth decay, but sometimes the act of flossing is difficult for a patient with orthodontics. If you have trouble adjusting to flossing with your new braces, Kidz Connextion dentists may suggest using a water flosser for those hard to reach places!

A safe, easy, and effective way to remove plaque around dental braces is to use a water flosser. A water flosser is a handheld device that sprays streams of water in steady pulses. Not only is this beneficial to patients with traditional braces, water flossers are also an option for people who have trouble controlling traditional floss by hand. You should never get by on flossing alone. It’s important to brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss at least once a day to reap the maximum benefits of a healthy mouth.

Kidz Connextion Dental Care maintains offices around Phoenix.  To find out more, visit our website at Kidzconnextion.com.

Space Maintainers

Your child may need a space maintainer if he or she loses a baby tooth prematurely before the permanent tooth is ready to erupt. If a primary tooth is lost too early, adult teeth can erupt into the empty space instead of where they should be. When more adult teeth are ready to fill the mouth, there may not be enough room for them because of the lost space. To prevent this from happening, our doctors at Kidz Connextion will recommend a space maintainer to hold open the space left by the missing tooth.

The goal of space maintainers is to prevent movement of adjacent permanent “first molars” (also called six-year molars), and loss of space for (permanent) bicuspids and permanent canines. If the permanent first molars are not held in their proper position, they can drift forward and prevent the bicuspid teeth from being able to move into the mouth on a normal path. Baby teeth are important to the development of the teeth, jaw bones and muscles to help guide permanent teeth into position when the baby teeth are lost. If space is not maintained, then teeth can shift into the open space and orthodontic treatment may be required.

If you are searching for a pediatric dentist, look no further and give us a call. To learn more about our pediatric services here at the office visit www.kidzconnextion.com for more information. To schedule an appointment in Phoenix AZ, call 623-223-1001.